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The entry below is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons-Barron’s own blog. It was a scorcher of a day in the summer of 1975, more than a year before the presidential election to determine whether Jerry Ford could withstand public contempt for his decision to pardon Richard Nixon and win…

Lowell Year in Review 2024 As each years comes to a close, I have composed my list of the top Lowell political events of the year. Here is my 2024 edition: The local political year began with the new city council taking the oath of office with John Descoteaux being…

This essay by Henri Marchand was first heard as a radio essay on the “Sunrise” program of WUML, 92.5 FM, at UMass Lowell. Today we continue our tradition of reposting the essay each year at Christmas.     The Christmas Fruitcake: An Ageless Tradition By Henri Marchand I think there…

Lowell’s Christmas 1924 – (PIP #50) By Louise Peloquin      You who have been reading the peeks into the past (“PIP’s”) posted here since September 8, 2023 have become part of L’Etoile’s readership. On its December 24, 1924 front page, the Star of Prince Street (1), extends holiday wishes to you. ***** *****      PIP…

The entry below is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons-Barron’s own blog. Congratulations to our do-little 118th Congress, which, after weeks of inactivity and chaos, has finally passed funding to keep the U.S. government open until March. It’s no surprise that only 21 percent of the American people approve of…

Christmas With The Kanes By David Daniel The exchanging of cards at the holidays remains a quaint, if vanishing, tradition. For a time, it gave ground to the “holiday letter”—pages of cheery mimeographed minutiae. But even those have waned, the impetus to show lives in perfect balance largely siphoned off…

The Lowell City Council met last Tuesday night. I’ll get to that shortly, but first I want to revisit the pre-Thanksgiving news that the retail establishments in Mill No. 5 will close early in 2025, and that the space they occupy will be transferred to the Lowell Community Charter Public…

Living Madly: A Cup of Kindness By Emilie-Noelle Provost You’ve probably seen the homemade signs hanging in stores and restaurants, the ones imploring customers to treat their workers kindly. As public-facing employees, waitstaff, store clerks, and baristas have borne the lion’s share of abuse dished out by belligerent consumers over…

Charlie Gargiulo’s Lowell memoir, Legends of Little Canada, was recently reviewed in Beat Scene magazine, a UK print publication the covers the Beat Generation (Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, et al). Here’s the review, reposted with permission of Beat Scene: Reading this new book one gets the feeling it has been…

Please welcome our newest contributor, Rich Grady: The Measure of Love By Rich Grady My wife, Lauren, and I grew up in the same town – Braintree, MA – with many of the same friends. We were planning to make the rounds of family and friends in other parts of…